


A Scrap with Blood Goblins

by ZoeTheTechWitch



Series: Goblins and Spells [1]
Category: Tales of Arcadia (Cartoons)
Genre: Action/Adventure, Cross-Posted on Tumblr, Day 5: Magic, F/M, Friendship, Inspired By Tumblr, Inspired by Fanart, Magic-Users, Mild Language, Mild hurt, Not Beta Read, Pre-Wizards, Technically Zouxie Week 2020, Zoe Shows Up Eventually
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-06
Updated: 2020-11-06
Packaged: 2021-03-08 22:08:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,567
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27423991
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ZoeTheTechWitch/pseuds/ZoeTheTechWitch
Summary: They walk silently down the street, hoping to quickly reach their apartment to enjoy a quick dinner before crawling into bed. The lights of the lampposts glow softly, illuminating their path. As they pass an alleyway, Archie suddenly leaps off Douxie’s shoulder, his ears pinned back and fur bristling in alarm.“What is it Arch?” Douxie asks, his eyes widening in surprise at his familiar’s agitation.Douxie halts, his right hand scrolling through the ruins on his bracelet. He selects a light spell and uses it to illuminate the dark alley.“I’m not certain, but I have this unsettling feeling” Archie responds.What happens when Douxie and Archie have an encounter in an alleyway, will they be able to handle it?
Relationships: Archie & Hisirdoux "Douxie" Casperan, Archie & Hisirdoux "Douxie" Casperan & Zoe, Hisirdoux "Douxie" Casperan & Zoe, Hisirdoux "Douxie" Casperan/Zoe
Series: Goblins and Spells [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2003587
Comments: 3
Kudos: 13





	A Scrap with Blood Goblins

**Author's Note:**

> I started this fic a while back and I finally finished, procrastination isn't fun lol. Writing about Douxie and Archie getting themselves into trouble was a lot of fun. This is _technically_ for Zouxie Week 2020 Day 5: Magic even though there isn't much Zouxie. (But I think it counts because it leads into my sister's Zouxie fic)
> 
> Note: This is part one of the series "Goblins and Spells." You could read it as a stand-alone, but if you want to read a bunch of Zouxie fluff check out part two which is written by my sister.

Douxie moves easily around the cafe, humming to himself as he sweeps around the tables and chairs, picking up the mess left by the day's patrons. Out of the corner of his eye, Douxie sees Archie lounging on one of the tables. His tail sways lazily back and forth, and upon noticing Douxie looking at him, Archie lets out an exasperated meow.

Douxie knows that was Archie’s way of saying, “ _would you mind hurrying it up, we don’t have all day.”_ Of course, he couldn't say that aloud with Douxie’s manager in the other room.

“Don’t worry Arch; I’m almost done,” Douxie reassures his impatient familiar.

Archie huffs in response and raises an eyebrow, clearly unimpressed, and moves to stretch and nestle into a more comfortable position. Douxie laughs at him as he continues sweeping, but stops when he hears the creak of the kitchen door opening.

“Hey Doux, you can leave now if you’d like.” Douxie’s manager John informs him, smiling at the seemingly younger man.

He walks over to Douxie and pats him on the shoulder, “I appreciate you staying behind to help clean, but your shift is over, I’ll finish cleaning. ”

“Are you sure? I’m almost done.” Douxie tells him, but nonetheless, he hands the broom to John’s outstretched hand.

“Yes I’m sure, I’ll finish up. You can get going,” John assures, gesturing with his hands for Douxie to get going.

Douxie smiles gratefully and grabs his things, Archie leaping nimbly from his perch to join Douxie at the door. After waving goodbye to John, Douxie steps out onto the street and heads into the night.

“Thank goodness, I thought we’d never leave,” Archie says, a teasing grin forming on his face. 

Douxie huffs, clearly offended, but he knows that Archie is just messing with him. Douxie can’t blame him either; he did take a bit too long cleaning up. It would have been much faster with magic, but he knew better than to take a shortcut. 

“Alright I get it, anyway I believe that there’s some leftover pizza left in the fridge that we can have for dinner.” 

“That sounds like an excellent idea, I’m famished,” Archie says, leaping up to sit on Douxie’s shoulder. 

They walk silently down the street, hoping to quickly reach their apartment to enjoy a quick dinner before crawling into bed. The lights of the lampposts glow softly, illuminating their path. As they pass an alleyway, Archie suddenly leaps off Douxie’s shoulder, his ears pinned back and fur bristling in alarm.

“What is it Arch?” Douxie asks, his eyes widening in surprise at his familiar’s agitation.

Douxie halts, his right hand scrolling through the ruins on his bracelet. He selects a light spell and uses it to illuminate the dark alley. 

“I’m not certain, but I have this unsettling feeling” Archie responds.

Douxie and Archie suddenly hear a rustling and growling noise, putting them on edge. Even with Douxie’s light spell, seeing into the alleyway was difficult. 

“I’m sure it’s probably just a stray cat….” Douxie wasn’t sure whether he was trying to reassure Archie or himself, because if he was being honest, the noise coming from the alleyway sounded unlike any cat he’s ever heard.

“That’s no alleycat Douxie, look!” emerging from the shadows, at the end of the alleyway, are three blood goblins. They observe Douxie and Archie with the feral eyes of a predator stalking its prey.

“Goblins!” Douxie exclaims.

“Those aren’t just any goblins, they’re blood goblins!” Archie corrects, the blood goblins slowly begin to creep forward, snarling viciously at them. 

“Haven’t I told you numerous times to brush up on your monsterology?” Archie quips while he shifts into his dragon form.

Douxie's hand hovers over his bracelet. “Yeah sure Arch, I’ll get right on that,” he responds sarcastically.

“They’re supposed to be in the Darklands, why are they here in Arcadia?” Archie questions. 

The blood goblins stalk closer, looking ready to pounce at any moment.

“No idea, but now's not the time to worry about that. What’s the plan?” 

“The plan is to….. RUN!” Archie takes off flying down the empty street. Douxie scrambles after him as the blood goblins surge forward and make chase after the wizard and familiar.

“Run!? That’s your plan!?” Douxie exclaims as they dart into another alleyway, heading for the back alleys and away from any prying eyes.

“Well, I don’t suppose you have any other ideas!” Archie retorts, “This is merely a tactical retreat!” 

“Tactical retreat my ass!” Douxie hollers, not at all amused.

“Aaahhh!” Douxie screams in surprise. He stumbles as sharp claws dig into his back. _A blood goblin._ He tried to shake it off, but it seemed futile as the blasted creature didn’t want to let go.

“Douxie!!” Archie yells as he flies over to help him. But before he could reach Douxie, he’s tackled by another blood goblin and they tumble to the ground. It looks like he had to deal with that goblin first before he could assist Douxie.

Douxie was still attempting to knock the blood goblin off of him. _Stubborn little pest._ He rips off his sweatshirt, shoving the goblin away from him. Which the creature wasn’t pleased with as it tears the sweatshirt to shreds with its teeth. 

_“There goes my sweatshirt.”_

He selects a combination of runes from his bracelet “Alright you little git, let’s see how you like this!” 

A ball of blue magic forms in his hand. He directs a couple of blasts at the blood goblin, who dodges the attacks. Douxie grit his teeth, “ _Fuzzbuckets I missed!”_

But before he could release another blast, the third blood goblin clobbers into him. He is sent crashing towards the brick wall. His side slams into the hard surface and he yells out in agony. “ _Blast it! I forgot that there was another one.”_

Douxie staggers to his feet. His head spins and he grabs onto the wall for support. He sees the two goblins advance towards him. He lets out a wave of magic, which hits one of the blood goblins. _Splat!_

The other one pounces on him, sending him crashing to the ground. Douxie tries to wrestle the creature off of him. The blood goblin is relentless, clawing and scratching at his face and neck. He feels the sting where its claws meet his skin.

“Get off my wizard you fiend!” Archie swoops in and swats the blood goblin off of Douxie. Before the blood goblin could retaliate, Archie spurts out a blast of fire. The blood goblin melts under the intense heat. 

“Took you long enough,” Douxie comments with a tired smile. He picks himself off the ground and leans against the brick wall, his hand clutching his injured side.

Archie shifts back to his cat form and licks at the cuts on his paws, “Well my apologies but I had my paws full dealing with the one attacking me.”

Archie’s coat is littered with bloody cuts, his face void of his trademark glasses. “Now, if you don’t mind I’d appreciate it if you helped me find my glasses.” 

Douxie sighed, glancing around to see if he could spot the familiar’s spectacles. He spots them at the end of the alley. They were laying near the remains of the blood goblin that had attacked Archie earlier. He slowly makes his way over to the glasses. The lenses were full of cracks. He picks them up and hobbles back over to Archie.

“Here you go, though I don’t think they will help much.”

“Much appreciated, thank you,” He slips them back onto his face, blinking rapidly as his vision clears partially.

Douxie runs a hand through his hair, “...So what do we do now?”

“The most reasonable course of action would be to tend to our wounds,” Archie answers, “I do believe that Zoe’s place isn’t that far from here.”

Douxie groans and covers his face with his hand, “Oh no, Zoe is going to _kill_ us.”

An amused look crosses over Archie’s face, “Oh come now, no need to be so _dramatic._ ” Archie turns and proceeds in the direction of Zoe’s apartment. 

“Hurry up, let’s get a move on now.” 

Douxie begrudgingly follows him, only to pause in his tracks as the sky lights up in bursts of colour. His face twists in confusion, _“Fireworks? Why are there fireworks?”_

Archie squints up at the fireworks “Hmm, how terribly odd. Well, no time to dwell on it right now.” 

A few minutes later, they find themselves at the doorstep of Zoe’s apartment. They stand in front of the door in silence. Douxie’s shoulders slump with fatigue. His hand holds his aching side as he rests his forehead against the door.

“Aren’t you going to knock?” Archie asks, exhaustion present in his voice.

Douxie glances down at his familiar, “Oh uh yeah right.” He straightens up and knocks on the door. The seconds tick by. _Nothing._

He knocks again, this time with a bit more force. He exchanges a look with Archie, while silently contemplating whether or not he should use the spare key Zoe gave him. His thoughts are interrupted as the door creaks open. Zoe stands there, her mouth open in surprise. 

He gives her a sheepish smile, but she just stares at him. Her eyes look him up and down, likely taking in both his and Archie dishevelled appearances.

“Hey Zoe, how it’s going?”

**Author's Note:**

> I was inspired to write this after seeing Tenyai's artwork of Zoe patching up Douxie and Archie. I started thinking about how they could have gotten hurt and this is what I came up with. The fight scene was SO HARD TO WRITE!!! Luckily I got a bit of help from my sis. I hope that it was decent enough lol.
> 
> Also, can anyone figure out why I made mention of fireworks? hehe. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this fic and I welcome any constructive criticism.


End file.
